THE UNITED STATES will deploy additional ballistic-missile interceptors along the Pacific Coast to increase the Pentagon's ability to blunt a potential attack from North Korea, in a clear response to recent tests of nuclear weapons technology and long-range missiles by the North.

The new deployment will increase the number of ground-based interceptors to 44 from the 30 already based in California and Alaska.

While the limited missile-defense system does not offer a 100-percent guarantee of knocking down a North Korean attack, the weapons send a signal of credible deterrence to the North's limited intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal.